Pottery

I have been practicing pottery for 2+ years at various studios, currently I work at Mudstone Studio in Pawtuket, RI. My number-one goal is to create the perfect coffee mug, a pursuit that I am sure will take my whole life. I am drawn to the idea of creating an object that is intimately connected to its use, and adds joy to the experience of use. I think the objects we surround ourselves with should be special, beautiful, functional, and natural. I derive huge inspiration from the production philosophy of the Chawan.

July 1, 2026

Pottery practice at Mudstone is now in full swing. Fitting pottery in around PhD research is tough, but I find that it is an incredibly valuable creative outlet. With some large hurdles in school overcome recently, I am looking forward to returning to the studio and diving in to more projects. Though I feel my control of form still needs a lifetime of work, some recent nice results have been tempting me to finally start to explore texture with more depth. Perhaps this summer I’ll start to play with inclusions in my clay bodies, slip coating, etc.

May 20, 2026

The other week I salvaged some dry, moldy clay from the studio and used it to throw some tests for a pouring vessel concept I had. I was feeling uninspired in the glazing department and had no idea what to expect from the clay body so I just gave them a simple clear glaze. The results from the kiln were very exciting! They must have been placed near a burner or other glaze with some iron, so that a wonderful subtle hue licked the sides. Unfortunately these ended up being not so functional (I need to explore spouts), but they look great in my new display case!

February 28, 2026

Practice at Mudstone proceeds. I am solidly focusing on forms with raw clay exteriors and simple glazed interiors. In fact, so as not to focus on glazing too much right now, I have gone for a very simple and sloppy pour-it-in-and-pour-it-out approach with minimal cleanup. This leaves some splats and drips that I actually like quite a bit, and I'd love to explore this more in the future. For now though I feel like all my focus has been on refining my forms and the surface of the unglazed clay. It feels like both of these things is a universe in itself. Part of me considers even going back to a fully glazed form just to simplify again, but the feel of the raw clay is just so nice... the vase below is an exemplification of the exaggerated curves and biological feel I am going for. I also really like the textere of this particular grogged clay body when burnished but left raw. One more note, I really also haven't landed on a way that I really like to photograph my pieces yet. I honestly think this is what is holding me back most from posting more.

November 20, 2025

I finally photographed some of the pieces that came out of my time at the Steel Yard. I am quite happy with these, the experiment with burnishing the outside of pots and then giving bit of highlight to the texture with an oxide wash worked beautifully. I think I have really found my design language with these natural curves, pronounced feet, and raw clay exterior. I am now starting to produce some work at my first full time ceramics home at Mudstone Studio in Pawtucket, RI. New work will be focused on form, making pieces with natural curves and simple unglazed exterriors that feel at home in the hands.

July 24, 2025

I am currently doing work in the intermidiate guided open studio at The Steel Yard in Providence, RI. For now I have decided to focus on form and hone those related skills before moving on to textural work (which I am also interested in). As such, my pieces in this class will be all raw clay body on the outside, with a simple glaze lining on the inside. I pre-plan the dimensions of pieces and attempt to throw and trim sets which are as alike as possible. The outsides of all trimmed pots are burnished with a metal spoon, which gives a delightful smooth texture to the greenware...we will see how this comes through in the final peices. The instructor, Fred, opened my eyes to the fact that the clay body used for these classes is a bit ugly when left unglazed. Perhaps I will attempt a subtle oxide wash just to give the pieces a little bit of contrast as opposed to the flat yellow-beige of the raw glaze-fired clay. A couple of the residents in ceramics recommended that I simply use a clay body that I think is beautiful if I want the raw clay to be beautiful, and I think this is good advice. Perhaps I should do some tests and find a clay to stick to before going too much further.